Shocking moment knife-wielding monkey waves blade around zoo enclosure

Shocking moment knife-wielding monkey waves blade around Chester Zoo enclosure in scene ‘straight out of Planet of the Apes’

• The crested macaque waved the knife around after it was left by a workman
• Bizarre incident compared to a sci-fi flick that saw apes rise up against humanity

A knife-wielding monkey became the ‘highlight of the day’ for visitors to a zoo as they filmed it toying with the giant blade.

The Sulawesi crested macaque, living at Chester Zoo in Cheshire, found the utensil and began waving it around at its fellow primates after it was accidentally left in an enclosure by a workman. 

It picked up the foldable pocket knife and was able to release the sharp edge from its enclosure before waving it around in the vicinity of its fellow primates, who scrapped over it in a bid to claim it for themselves.

Shocked visitors filmed the encounter from behind a panel of safety glass – but say the chimp bashed the implement against a wall in order to release the blade, going as far to suggest that ‘it knew exactly what it [the knife] was’.

The incident, reported to have occurred shortly after 5pm on Wednesday August 9, drew comparisons with a scene in 2011 sci-fi flick Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

The Sulawesi crested macaque can be seen wielding the ‘multitool’ implement after it was left in an enclosure at Chester Zoo

In scenes likened to sci-fi film series Planet of the Apes, the monkey waves the unfolded knife around in the vicinity of its fellow simians

Eyewitness Leanne Jones, 32, watched the events unfold with her daughters aged four and nine.

She told The Sun: ‘It was the highlight of the day actually.

‘The kids loved it, they ended up running around and telling everyone what was going on.

‘We informed the keepers. It [the macaque] managed to get it open but dropped it almost immediately afterwards.

‘Eventually they started fighting over it because it was on the floor, so there was a bit of a free for all. Everyone wanted the knife.’

Supermarket worker Leanne says she was told by keepers that a gardener had been cutting down trees and doing maintenance work, and may have left the knife behind by accident.

She added: ‘I was concerned about the kids seeing it, because they’ll go back to school in September and get asked ‘What did you do on your summer holidays?’

‘They’ll have to say “I went to Chester Zoo and saw a monkey with a knife”.’

Her partner Mark Shingler said the scene was like something out of a Planet of the Apes film. 

He said: ‘It’s something we’ve not experienced before. He kept hitting the knife on the wall trying to get it open, so it knew exactly what it was and what it wanted to do with it.

‘A majority of the staff came up and started taking their own video of what was going on.

‘Even if it’s a macaque, it still has a knife. It’s really only like something in a Hollywood film.’

Bosses at Chester Zoo have launched an investigation into how the knife came to be in the enclosure. Witnesses claim that staff told them a workman had left it behind

2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes sees hyper-intelligent monkey Caesar (above, played by Andy Serkis) rise up against humanity by stealing a keeper’s knife

In 2011 movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes, hyper-intelligent monkey Caesar – played by motion capture legend Andy Serkis – steals a pocket knife from a keeper before using it to free himself and lead an uprising against humanity.

Staff are reported to have told witnesses that the knife would be recovered once the excitable pack of apes had calmed down.

Chester Zoo has since launched an investigation into how the incident occured, with a spokesperson confirming that a ‘multipurpose’ tool had been left in the enclosure.

READ MORE: Monkey see, monkey do! Amazing moment Indonesian macaque mimics wildlife photographer by peering through camera’s viewfinder like a human

Richard Byrne, Emeritus Professor at the University of St Andrews and an expert on human-like behaviour in animals, said it was ‘lucky’ the monkey didn’t cause any harm.

However, he doesn’t believe the chimp knew what it was holding, adding: ‘I don’t think one can claim the monkey knew what the knife was unless it used the blade to cut something too tough to bite.’

Animal carer Jessica Welburn, of The Mobile Vet Company, said that monkeys’ close evolutionary links with humans mean they ‘absolutely love’ utensils.

She said: ‘They share so much of our DNA so they’re very similar to us in a lot of ways.

‘It’s fortunate no harm was done and I bet it was certainly eventful for visitors to the zoo. I’m sure everyone went bananas!’

Chester Zoo is home to a tribe of Sulawesi crested macaques, which are listed as ‘critically endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

It’s not the first time  have been seen to use man-made contraptions: one of the monkeys was at the centre of a copyright storm after it took a series of selfies on a camera owned by photographer David Slater.

The selfies, taken by a chimp called Naruto, were ruled to have no copyright as they had been taken by an animal, which cannot legally claim to own a photo – a decision Slater claims cost him thousands of pounds.

A crested macaque in its natural habitat, at the Tangkoko National Park on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi

But a later legal dispute with animal rights group Peta saw a settlement reached in which Slater could sell the photos – as long as he donated a quarter of the proceeds to a charity looking after Naruto and his fellow simians.

In their natural habitat on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, crested macaques tend to gather into social groups of between 25 and 30 animals, but there are as few as 5,000 left in the wild.

Deforestation works on the island have seen the monkeys’ natural territory dwindle, and poachers have hunted the animals to near-extinction as they are considered a local delicacy, served up at special occasions such as weddings.

Chester Zoo undertakes conservation efforts to protect the remaining macaque population, and in May keepers celebrated the birth of a new baby to mum Rumple.

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